A FIRST-half goal from Lee Jones gave Wrexham a winning start to their defence of the Isle of Man Trophy against Second Division Blackpool last night.

A FIRST-half goal from Lee Jones gave Wrexham a winning start to their defence of the Isle of Man Trophy against Second Division Blackpool last night.

And, but for some fine saves by Phil Barnes, the Dragons might have finished more comfortably as they created the majority of chances at the Balla Clon Stadium in Ramsey.

But Blackpool's Mike Sheron, his side's goalscorer and man of the match against Burnley on Sunday evening, went close to finding the net after just 25 seconds as the Wrexham defence funnelled back from the kick-off.

The experienced striker took full advantage of the space in front of him, progressing to the edge of the penalty area before thumping a low shot against the foot of a post.

But the Dragons overcame that shaky start and created two decent opportunities of their own in quick succession, Darren Ferguson drilling one from 20 yards that took a fortunate deflection, before Jones somehow failed to turn in Chris Llewellyn's accurate cross from just five yards.

Wrexham's front two looked more than capable of causing problems for the Seasiders' defence, and Steve Thomas also made a useful contribution filling the wing-back role usually occupied by Carlos Edwards.

With Ferguson as influential as ever the Dragons rarely came under any sustained pressure, and they were marginally the more assertive side when they took a 28th-minute lead.

Llewellyn found space on the left-flank and his near post centre was then met perfectly by Jones, who headed the ball beyond Barnes. The goal signalled a good spell for Wrexham and Paul Barrett was unlucky not to double the lead five minutes later when Blackpool failed to deal with a corner.

And shortly before the interval the Llewellyn/Jones partnership nearly came up trumps again but Jones steered his header too close to the keeper.

Former Norwich City striker Llewellyn made way at the interval to give Chris Armstrong his first taste of competitive action since returning to the Racecourse last month.

He had an early chance to make an impression within three minutes of the re-start when Jones pulled off his marker to deliver a cross which the ex-Spurs man headed straight at Barnes.

Blackpool's two half-time substitutes Martin Bullock and Scott Taylor also made an immediate impact, each of them going close to an equaliser as the Lancashire team stepped up their efforts.

There was little to choose between the sides as the play regularly switched from one penalty area to the other, Armstrong's pace giving Barnes a fright as he dealt with an under-hit backpass and at the other end Liam Richardson went close with a wickedly curling free-kick.

Barnes kept Blackpool in contention with a magnificent one-handed save after 72 minutes, turning a Thomas free-kick for a corner and another fine stop denied Armstrong a goal five minutes from time.